“When I was goin’ through it, I really felt like it added insult to injury. The lesson had already been learned. I already understood the errors in my ways and made the adjustments necessary. It did make me worse in a sense that, before I went in, I was already on a path of positivity. Putting me in prison took me off that path a little bit, and now I’m working to get back on that path—or at least back on the path to the extent that I was before I went in. I’m still not as bad as I was before this incident, but I lost a little bit of my positive focus during that period of incarceration. Being in that environment and having those daily surroundings, it’s going to affect you.”

WhenComplexreferences several instances on his Fawk A Mixtape project when the rapper says he’s replaced the guns that led to his conviction with knives and is willing to “stab someone”, the man who told Larry King he was a “retired gangster” says the weapons are only meant for self defense.

“It’s within your rights to do anything to protect your well-being, right? That’s well within the law. If my life is being threatened, I have every right, legally, to protect my life and my loved ones. So that wouldn’t be getting in trouble at that point. Everybody takes everything so literal and so…I don’t know. You could spit on the concrete in public and get the same reaction: “Oh, I thought Tip was done getting in trouble. What is he doing spitting on the concrete? What is he doing jaywalking?” The best thing I can do is continue to live my life the best way I know how.”